My Genealogy Hound

William B. Mitchell, farmer, and county collector of Polk County, Mo., was born in Blount County, Tenn., February 27, 1826, his parents being James and Sally (Nave) Mitchell. The father was born in Tennessee about 1786, and in 1803 removed to Roane County, where he was married, it is supposed, about five years later. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1834 moved to Polk County, Mo., where he followed his calling up to the time of his death, in 1876. His wife was born in Tennessee in 1790, and died in Polk County, Mo., in 1853. Her union with Mr. Mitchell resulted in the birth of fourteen children, eight of whom survive. Morris Mitchell, the paternal grandfather, was born in Pennsylvania, about 1762, and afterward emigrated to Tennessee, thence to Polk County, Mo., in 1835, where he died in 1848. His wife died also in Polk County, in 1853 or 1854. George Nave, the maternal grand father, came from Germany and located in Tennessee in the twenties, and there died in 1828 or 1830. His wife survived him a number of years. William B. Mitchell grew to manhood in Polk County, Mo., and in 1846 enlisted in the Mexican War, under Price, serving in Company H, Second Missouri Volunteers, for twelve months, and then returned home and was married in Polk County, in February, 1848, to Miss Cynthia Harrison, who was born in Williamsport, Ind., in 1830, and came to Lewis County, Mo., with his parents in 1838, and to Polk County, in 1844. Eleven of their twelve children survive: Rebecca E. (Myers), Sarah M. (Tuck), Thomas H., A. M., Justin C, William C. (deceased), Walter E., Emma E. (Tuck), Cynthia A. (Utley), E. Benson, Sebern S. and Horace V. Mrs. Mitchell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1858 Mr. Mitchell was elected on the Benton Democratic ticket as sheriff and collector of Polk County, Mo., and after serving two years was re-elected to the same office for two more years. In July, 1862, he was mustered into the militia, Company F, Twenty-sixth Regiment, as a private, and was promoted to the rank of major the same day, and at the end of one year was made major of the Seventh Provisional Regiment of Missouri. In 1864 his regiment was transferred to the United States service, and he was a faithful officer until the close of the war. He received his discharge at Springfield, Mo., in July, 1865, having participated in a number of hard-fought battles. In 1876 he was elected on the Republican ticket to represent Polk County in the State Legislature, serving two years, and, in the fall election of 1888, he was elected by the same party to his present position. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternities, and also to the Grand Army of the Republic. Like his wife, he is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.